Baroness Amos: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Today I am laying a Command Paper before Parliament detailing the Government's response to the report by the International Development Committee entitled Darfur, Sudan: The-responsibility to protect.

Lord Brabazon of Tara: Since the coming into force of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, Members of the House have no longer been exempt from jury service as of right. On 20 October 2004, I wrote to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, asking him to consider the potential difficulties which might be faced by Members who undertook jury service. The Lord Chief Justice replied on 5 April in the following terms:
	"Following your letter of 20 October 2004 I am writing to notify you that following on from my meeting last year with Sir George Young as Chairman of the Committee on Standards and Privileges I did give some thought as to the potential difficulties faced by Members of Parliament (both MPs and Peers) who may find themselves balancing a duty to undertake jury service with their important public service duties as Members of Parliament.
	Having given some thought to the problems I concluded that similar difficulties may apply equally to a great number of categories of people with essential public service commitments who were previously ineligible or exempt as of right from jury service.
	Judges do have discretion to deal with such applications sympathetically but would always have to balance the needs of the juror with the interests of justice in each case. The enclosed Practice Direction, which I handed down on 22 March 2005, is designed to remind judges of that discretion not just in relation to applications from MPs and Peers but in relation to applications from any worker with critical public service commitments. I trust that it will provide the reassurance you were seeking."
	The full text of the correspondence between the Lord Chief Justice and myself, together with the Practice Direction referred to, have been placed in the Library of the House.